Buyers are seen at the Yiwu International Trade Market. [Photo/IC]

A fresh demographic census report published by the State Council confirms that there are 105 officially recognized big cities across the country.

Metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai being on the list should not surprise anyone, but four county-level cities - namely Kunshan in Jiangsu province, Yiwu and Cixi in Zhejiang province and Jinjiang in Fujian province - made a splash by making the list. The four cities, each having a permanent resident population of between 1 and 3 million, are shining examples of China's urbanization strategy, which focuses on small- and medium-sized cities.

Yiwu has a resident population of about 1.86 million, among which over 1.18 million people live in urban areas. With its small commodities, the city attracts many entrepreneurs, including Liu Wei.

Liu, a native of Shaanxi province, now runs several online stores with his wife in Yiwu. About 10 years ago, when Liu first walked into the 6.4 million-square-meter Yiwu International Trade Market, he was secretly determined to achieve big success.

Liu started his business with less than 10,000 yuan ($1,384.26) in capital. Today, he can earn about 200,000 to 300,000 yuan annually by selling daily necessities online. He also bought a house in the city.

"Yiwu has a lower start-up cost and more opportunities than many other cities. As long as you work hard, you will definitely be rewarded," said Liu.

As of the end of September this year, the number of registered market entities in Yiwu had reached 871,800, including 256,900 enterprises and 614,900 individual industrial and commercial households.

The city also saw a booming e-commerce industry. Yiwu's e-commerce transactions increased from 115.3 billion yuan in 2014 to 371.51 billion yuan in 2021, with an average annual growth of 24.4 percent. In the same period, its express delivery surged 63.76 percent annually from 339 million to 9.29 billion pieces, ranking second in the country.